Fabrics



March 19, 1 957 C. E. NEISLER, JR

FABRICS Original Filed-June 19, 1953 I N V EN TOR. 6%02/65 E Alls/en/EATTORNEYS United States Patent FABRICS Charles Eugene Neisler, Jr.,Kings Mountain, N. C.

Original application June 19, 1953, Serial No. 362,755, now Patent No.2,732,865, dated January 31, 1956. and this application May 27, 1955,Serial No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 139-410) This invention relates generally to improvementsin fabrics and method of, and apparatus for, making the same and, moreparticularly, to improvements in arcuate inflatable mattress fabrics andmethod of, and apparatus for, making the same.

It is the primary aim and object of the present invention to providemattress fabric formed of a pair of fabrics having an intermediatethread extending therebetween and connected thereto in which said fabricis adapted to assume an arcnate shape of a desired curvature.

It is another object of the present invention to provide arcuatemattress fabric of the aforenoted character in which the arcuate shapeis of a curvature that is readily and accurately controllable.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedmethod of making the fabric material of the aforenoted character, saidmethod readily lending itself to efiicient and low cost mass production.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide improvedapparatus for making the fabric material of the aforenoted character,said apparatus being simple in design and construction, and economicalto manufacture.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more fully understood from the following descriptionconsidered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawing which illustrates the best mode now contemplated by mefor carrying out my invention:

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective view of loom apparatus formedaccording to the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary schematic view of the arcuate inflatablemattress fabric formed on the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Fig. 2 thereof, thereis shown a segment of mattress fabric which comprises a pair of fabrics12 and 14 which are interconnected by the intermediate thread 16, saidpair of fabrics being disposed in confronting disposition and laterallyspaced apart. It will be understood that the intermediate thread 16 issecured to the fabrics 12 and 14 in a manner to be described in detailhereinafter and said intermediate thread is transversely disposedbetween said pair of fabrics. It will be noted that the fabric 14 iselongated relative to the fabrics 12, said arrangement providing afabric material 10 which is adapted to assume an arcuate shape of adesired curvature. The method of, and apparatus for forming the mattressfabric 10 will now be described in detail with reference to Fig. l.

The loom 20, a fragmentary portion of which is shown in Fig. l, isconventional except in the respects to be specifically notedhereinafter, and comprises a series of gages 22 which are disposedwarp-wise of the apparatus. The series of threads A and B are adapted toform the upper fabric 14 and the series of threads C and D are adaptedto form the lower fabric 12. the intermediate "ice thread B beingadapted to form the intermediate thread 16 shown in Fig. 2. As isconventional in weaving on loom apparatus of this character, warp andweft threads will be interwoven to simultaneously form the pair offabrics 12 and 14 which are laterally spaced in confronting dispositionwith the spacing corresponding to the width of the series of gages 22.The intermediate thread B will be woven with the warp and weft threadsof the pair of fabrics 12 and 14, respectively, in succession during theweaving of said pair of fabrics with the thread E extending transverselybetween said pair of fabrics. Thus the weaving operation, asaforedescribed relative to the loom apparatus 20, is conventional in allrespects whereby it will be apparent that the fabrics 12 and 14 will bespaced apart a distance corresponding to the width of the series ofgages 22. If desired said fabrics 12 and 14 may be spaced apart adistance substantially greater than the width of the series of gages 22,this arrangement being fully shown, described and claimed in mycopending application Serial No. 360,435, filed June 9, 1953, forFabrics and Method of Making the Same. Thus the fabrics 12 and 14 may bespaced apart corresponding to the width of the gages 22 or said fabricsmay be spaced apart in the manner shown in my copending applicationaforereferred to. The loom 20 will be provided with two warp beams, onebeam for fabric 12 and one beam for fabric 14.

Pursuant to the present invention, there is provided a pair oftake-down'rolls 24 and 26 which are vertically and laterally spaced fromeach other, it being noted that said take-down rolls are positionedforwardly of the series of gages 22. Associated with the forwardlypositioned take-down roll 26 and disposed therebelow is a wind-up roll28 which is adapted to receive and wind-up the fabric 10 from thetake-down roll 26. The take-down roll 24 is adapted to rotate at agreater peripheral speed then the take-down roll 26 whereby the upperfabric 14, which is adapted for association with the take-down roll 24,will be of greater length relative to the fabric 12 which is adapted forassociation with the take-down roll 26 on being drawn from the series ofgages 22. It will also be apparent that the warp beam for the fabric 14will permit the latter to be drawn off at a faster rate relative to thefabric 12 by roll 24. Since the shuttles travel across the fabric 12 and14 the same number of times per unit of time, fabric 14 will have alesser number of weft threads per unit of length than the fabric 12.However, the difference in the number of weft threads in fabrics 12 and14 will be relatively small for practically all curvatures desired offabric material 10. The takedown rolls 24 and 26 are mounted forrotation on the shafts 30 and 32, respectively, in the direction of thearrows as shown. Disposed on the peripherally extending surface 25 ofthe roll 24 is a series of projecting elements 34 which are adapted tocooperate with adjacent face portions of the fabric 14 for drawing thelatter, The elements 34 may be of any desired construction andarrangement whereby to provide for the engagement thereof with thefabric 14 without damaging the latter. Any suitable means (not shown)may be provided for rotating the shafts 30 and 32 so as to provide forthe aforenoted different peripheral speeds of the take-down rolls 24 and26. The upper take-down roll 24 is adapted to rotate at a greaterperipheral speed than the take-down roll 26 and, if desired, the shafts30 and 32 may be interconnected by any suitable mechanism indicatedgenerally at 36 for providing a fixed relative speed between said shaftsso as to provide for a fixed relative peripheral speed between thetake-down rolls 24 and 26. Thus the fabric 14 on being drawn from thegages 22 is adapted to cooperate with the take-down roll 24 so as toprovide for the greater length of said fabric relative to the fabric 12.Similarly the fabric 12 on being drawn from the series of gages 22 isadapted to c'oop'eratewith" the lower take down roll 26, the latterbeingdriven at a slower peripheral speed than the take-down roll 24.Thus the differential peripheralspeed of the take-down" rolls 24 and 26will be effective to provide for the diflerential length between thecompanion; pair of fabr'ics'12 and 14. It is to' be noted that the pairof fabrics 12' and 14 will converge towards the take-down roll 26 andwill be guided therearound onto the wind-up roll 28."

Thefabrics 12 and i4'rnay be thereafter suitably coated or impregnatedwith a fluid impervious material so that articles fabricated therefromwill be correspondingly fluid impervious. T husby Way of example it isto be noted that the mattress fabric may be fabricatedintcarcuateairinflatable mattresses or fluid" containers. Accordingly theaforedescribed mattress fabric 10 may be used to form fluidcontainerso'r inflatable mattresses of a desired curvahim that isreadily and accurately controllable. The instant'mattress fabric ll)readily lends itself to the formation of fluid containers having anarcuate shape of a desired curvaturewhereby such containers may bereadily associated with complementary structure of a correspondingshape. It is to be n'oted that', if desired, the shafts 3i) and 32 ofthe take-down rolls 24 and 26, respectively, may be independentlydrivenso as to provide for the aforedescribed diflerential peripheralspeed or, if desired, said shafts may be operatively linked by suitablemeans 36 so as to providefor a fixed relative diiferential speed.

This application is a divisional application'of my application SerialNo. 362,755, filed June 19, 1953 'for'Fabrics and Method of andApparatus for Making the Same, now Patent No. 2,732,865'

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinventiomit will be understood that various Having thus described my.invention, what I claim and.

desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. An arcuate fabric material, comprising a pair of laterally spacedWoven fabric layers interconnected by a series of transversely extendingthreads having portions thereof Woven to said layers, respectively, saidlayers comprising interwoven warp and Weft threads with one of said pairof layers being of greater length than the other of said pair of layers,said one layer having in unstressed state a lesser number of weftthreads per unit of length than said other layer, and said layers beingcoated to render the fabric material fluid impervious.

2. An arcuate fabric material, comprising a pair of laterally spacedWoven fabric layers interconnected by a.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,322,889 Shepherd et al. 7 June 29, 1943 2,632,480 Macintyre Mar. 24,1953 2,657,716 Ford Nov. 3, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Dec. 7,1934

